Chicken Fried Rice and Romance
by CSIcorrespondent
Summary: Response to an Unbound Challenge. GSR, of course.


Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, or any of these characters in the story.

A/N: Well, I haven't written a response to an Unbound challenge for awhile, so I thought I'd give 'er a go! Short and sweet, just because I can't type at the moment! For you "Happily Ever After" fans, I will try to get a new chapter up soon! Don't give up hope! Oh, and please review!

The heat was overwhelming.

Sara wiped beads of sweat from her forehead as she processed the scene. Luckily, she had enough sense to put on a layer of scent-free sun lotion this morning, but Sara could feel the sun baking her skin.

Glancing over, she saw Grissom working beside her, face twisted in concentration. His neck was already turning a shade of red, and she knew he would be in pain from it later.

Sara stood up and wiped her forehead again. "I'll be right back," she said. "I have to get something from the truck."

Grissom merely nodded, staying focused on the evidence he was collecting.

Trotting over to the Yukon, Sara opened the driver's door, and reached under the seat. She smiled as her fingers connected with the bottle of sun lotion. She also reached into a cubbyhole on the side of the door and took the two bottles of water that she had placed there earlier.

Walking back over to Grissom, she stood over him, opening one of the water bottles. He looked up, and eyed the bottle.

"Here," Sara said, handing him the bottle. "Too hot out here. We need to keep hydrated."

Grissom smiled at her gratefully, accepting the water bottle.

Over the past few months, the two of them had started discreetly dating. Sharing meals, reading by the fireplace, and even sharing a few chaste kisses.

Sara remembered the first day Grissom had asked her to breakfast….

"_Sara, can I speak with you in my office at the end of shift?" Grissom had asked casually._

_Sara nodded cautiously, meeting his gaze. "I'll be there."_

_True to her word, she arrived at his door near the end of shift. "So, you said-"_

"_Would you shut the door, please?" he had asked._

_The alarm bells in Sara's head had gone off, but she complied to his request._

"_Have a seat," he had said casually. Sara was quietly panicking, and it must have shown, because he smirked at her. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble. I just feel like we need to talk…about…well 'this'."_

_Sara had nearly fainted. "Wh-what do you mean?"_

_Grissom had smiled at her. "You said a few weeks ago, that you don't need to sleep in the same bed, or have sex to have romance. It got me thinking…"_

_Sara gulped. "Well, it's true…"_

_He had nodded. "You deserve…no, WE deserve to have romance. Have breakfast with me?"_

"Sara?" Grissom asked, touching her cheek gently, jolting her out of the memory and back into reality.

"Sorry, just thinking about things," she replied shyly, looking down. "About us."

"I'll never regret it, Sara," he said reassuringly. "You mean a lot to me, you know."

Sara looked up, emotions flooding into her heart. "You mean a lot to me too, Grissom."

He smiled and reached up to cup her cheek, his thumb smoothing over her cheek.

"My sweet Sara," he said. "I don't deserve you."

Sara sighed happily, and closed her eyes.

"We better get back to the scene," Grissom said, frowning slightly. "Things aren't as they look here."

Sara nodded, and put the lid back onto her water bottle. She glanced at the bottle of sun lotion on the ground.

"Here, put some of this on," she said. "You're going pink already." Popping open the lid, she squeezed a small amount onto her palm and walked towards him.

Grissom took off his hat to grant her better access to his neck. After smoothing the cream over his neck and ears, she wiped her hands on her arms to rid her hands of any access lotion.

Grissom put his hat back on and turned around, giving her a small smile. "Thanks."

She nodded, and the two of them continued to process the scene, putting their bursting emotions away.

CSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSI

Sara was walking through the halls of CSI, when she heard commotion in the break room. Making a small detour, she entered the small room, deciding she could use the break. Apparently, so did many of the other CSI's.

Greg and Nick were chattering away about some kind of football game they had seen on the weekend, and Warrick and Grissom were going over some kind of case file, but Sara couldn't tell from what. Catherine had her nose shoved into a _Cosmo_ Magazine, and glanced up as Sara entered the room.

"So, everyone thought they could just hang out, and leave me to the dirty work?" Sara asked jokingly. She glanced at Grissom, who gave an imperceptible nod of his head.

"All work and no play makes Greg a sad boy," Nick said, nodding toward the young CSI.

"FYI, I was the last person here, aside from Sara," Greg spit back. "You were the one doing the slacking, Texas!"

Nick reached over to slap Greg upside the head, but Sara intercepted it. "Seriously, what's going on?"

Grissom cleared his throat. "I was showing Warrick what we had collected so that he could help out. He finished with his B and E."

Sara nodded. She frowned as her stomach grumbled loudly.

"Sounds like someone's hungry," Catherine said from her corner. "I could use a bite of something, myself."

"Alright! Let's order delivery!" Greg yelled.

"My treat," Grissom said. Everyone became silent. Grissom frowned "What, can't I pay once in awhile?"

Greg shrugged. "In that case, I'll get some chicken fried rice, ginger beef, and some egg rolls. Oh and throw in a handful of chicken balls!"

"Greg, there's a limit," Grissom said. "I'm not made of money."


End file.
